Senior Practitioner

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO4 £49,056 - £52,194
Retention Bonus/ Market Supplement: £3000

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent
Working hours per week: 36 hours

Application Deadline: 21/08/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference: 2203

About Us: 

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. 

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. 

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment. 

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method. 

About the role: 

As a Senior Practitioner within Corporate Parenting, you will play a key leadership role in supporting children and young people to achieve the best possible outcomes. Managing a complex caseload, you will undertake assessments, develop care plans, and provide expert guidance to social workers and partner agencies. Working within a strengths-based, relationship-focused and trauma-informed practice model, you will champion the voice of the child, support families and carers, and contribute to high-quality service delivery. This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced social worker looking to combine direct practice with mentoring, professional leadership and service improvement. 

>> Click here to download the Role Profile << 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Identify and respond to needs at the earliest possible opportunity, working in partnership with families and their networks to build independence and resilience.

• Use simple language that meets children and families where they are, embedding cultural competency in your interactions.

• Share relevant and timely information to manage risk in partnership with relevant responsible authorities, according to procedure.

• Effectively identify, record, evaluate and reduce risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of children and the public.   

• Provide professional advice and interpretation on procedures, policy, legislation, systems, methods etc.

• Identify children’s risks and escalate as appropriate.

• Using a trauma informed approach, work in partnership with allied agencies that can offer specialist support.

• Initialise reflective discussions with your professional network, particularly at key moments e.g. when work with a family feels ‘stuck’ or following a significant event.

• Share agreed clear, accurate and appropriate information via the most appropriate channel.

• Take timely actions that are appropriate to the known circumstances.

Qualifications and Requirements: 

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements: 

• Social Work Diploma/Degree or equivalent.

• Must have experience in Court Work, and sound Court Report Writing skills

• Must have experience in Looked After Children

• Must have a current Social Work England Registration

• Will need enhanced DBS Clearance.

Terms and conditions: 

The below terms and conditions apply to this role: 

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.  

Equal Opportunity Employer: 

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value. 

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy. 

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview. 

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us. 

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk